Currently there are still two "Danger of Death" severe flood warnings in force for South West England. Still the one at Helston, plus another at Lostwithiel. In addition there are 74 red flood warnings, and 61 amber alerts.

Sadly a woman has been killed here in Exeter by a falling tree.  According to This Is Exeter:

Police have confirmed that a woman thought to be in her early 20's has died after being hit by a fallen tree in Exeter.

At around 11.50pm on Saturday night, 24 November 2012 police received a report of a tree that had fallen on Western Way, near to junction with Barnfield Road in Exeter. The tree was reported to have landed on or near to three people.

On police arrival at the scene three casualties were confirmed. One person was trapped and receiving treatment. They were being described as seriously injured. Two others who were clear from the tree were also receiving treatment.

The tree was described as a very large spruce tree which had come down across a wall into the roadway.

The seriously injured female casualty was taken to hospital. A short time later she was declared deceased by medical staff.

Our heartfelt condolences to the families involved in this tragedy.

According to This Is Exeter once more:

The RNLI’s south west Flood Rescue Team have tonight (Saturday 24 November) been tasked to assist the emergency services in Exeter, Devon.

The team that’s made up of RNLI lifeboat crew volunteers, who are trained in flood rescue techniques, will be responding to the city with two inshore lifeboats.

I'm a long time supporter of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, but I have to admit I never expected their extraordinarily brave volunteers to take the "inshore" part of their watercraft's name quite so literally.  Meanwhile here in the countryside just outside Exeter we have already had over 4 inches of rain in November 2012. Here's what the centre of the city looked like very recently:

After a brief respite overnight the heavens have opened once again here in the Haldon Hills. According to the econnexus weather widget the number of red flood warnings here in South West England has jumped to 45, up from 11 earlier today. The amber flood alerts have increased from 50 to 57.  Unfortunately for the first time during this extended period of heavy rainfall it seems things are even worse for people living near the south coast of Cornwall. According to the Environment Agency there are now two severe flood warnings in force:

21:38 on 24 Nov 2012 – River Pol At Polperro

21:40 on 24 Nov 2012 – River Cober At Helston

As the following overview reveals, these are warnings of:

Severe flooding – Danger to life

Two severe flood warnings for south Cornwall at 21:40 on 24th November 2012

We can only hope that such ominous predictions do not come true. One man has already died after his car was washed under a bridge two days ago in Somerset:

After a fair few emails and phone calls my penultimate set of objections to the second coming of the proposed Fulford Solar Park at Gold's Cross Hill near Tedburn St. Mary finally made their way onto the Teignbridge DC planning website this afternoon. If you enjoy a bit of a giggle download the three documents posted on Friday 23rd November.

Inazin Solar are the developer of this cutting edge project, and here's my professional opinion on their electrical engineering understanding, copied and pasted from my most recent attempt to educate Teignbridge District Councillors on the engineering facts of life:

The Design and Access statement for the first Inazin proposal claimed in paragraph 9.3 that:

The installation will generate approximately 8 MWh of electricity per year, sufficient to meet the needs of over 2,000 average UK households. This renewable energy will offset more than 4,000 tonnes of CO2 per year that would otherwise be generated as a result of the use of fossil fuels.

Note that there are 365 x 24 = 8760 hours in one year.  8 MWh / 8760 hours = 0.00091 MW or 0.91 kW of electrical power. That’s barely enough to boil a kettle to make yourself a hard earned cup of tea after doing all that complicated mathematics.

Moving on to the latest Design and Access statement, the applicant claims in paragraph 9.2 that:

The installation will have a minimum power capacity of 6.9 MWh capable of producing sufficient electricity to meet the needs of over 1,400 average UK households. This renewable energy will offset more than 3,700 tonnes of CO2 per year that would otherwise be generated as a result of the use of fossil fuels.

The new proposals are for a reduced number of solar “panels”, but even so those sums don’t quite add up.  4,200 / 2000 = 2.1 tonnes per household, whereas 3,700 / 1400 = 2.64 tonnes per household.  What has changed apart from those vague references to “over” and “more than”?  No explanation for this magical improvement is provided by the applicant. Which is in fact the correct figure? I will suggest neither.

Note firstly that the 6.9 MWh mentioned is specified in units of energy and not units of power.  Let’s assume for the moment that the applicant actually means 6.9 MW of power in this instance, which will at least make lots of cups of tea.  4,200 x 6.9 / 8 = 3,620 which is about 3,700. Hooray! Something adds up properly at last. Maybe the original 8 MWh should in fact have read 8 MW?

Here's how my glorious piece of gonzo journalism has been translated for the benefit of the Teignbridge planning committee:

The installation will have 0.91kW of electrical power

Reduced number of panels but claiming bigger CO2 reductions per household?

Sometimes I wonder why I bother. I guess that will teach me to leave things almost to the last moment yet again.  What with one thing and another I'm getting more and more confident that Monday's planning committee meeting will be even more fun than the first one.

In my conversations with the council today I discovered some more interesting facts about their meetings. The councillors now have the benefit of some cool technology which allows them to connect up their laptops via WiFi in the Council chamber to Teignbridge's computer systems. However mere mortals like me aren't allowed to connect our own laptops into the same system, to display some Powerpoint slides for the benefit of the committee for example. That constitutes "a security risk". In addition, all this wondrous technology is not used to record council meetings for posterity, using video or even just audio. The minutes are still recorded by hand.

For your final edification tonight, here is what a real solar kettle looks like:

The Magic Forest Solar Kettle

The Magic Forest Solar Kettle takes around 3 hours to build, costs £1.50 for the parts, and takes about an hour to cook an egg.  Much like the Fulford Solar Kettle then, apart from the time and cost of planning and construction that is. The only fly in this fabulous fantasy ointment is that unfortunately Inazin can't add up properly. Either that or they singularly fail to understand the significance of the amazing variety of engineering units. Possibly it's even a bit of both? Whatever the reason, in the final analysis it looks like their solar PV park is in fact designed to produce a peak power of 6.9 MW, not 0.91 kW. If constructed it will of course deliver nothing like that astonishing amount of power on average. Another pedantic perambulation through the mysteries of solar PV's "capacity factor" will have to wait for another day. It's now long past my bedtime!

Cornish charity Shelterbox have been providing their distinctive green, tent filled boxes to the people of Haiti off and on for years now, as well as many other places around the planet.  In their latest report from the Caribbean island nation following the passage of Hurricane Sandy last month, they say that:

The situation in Haiti is unlike anything we’ve seen before. Following Hurricane Sandy, there are reports of over 30,000 homes destroyed, damaged or flooded, and now, heavy rains have resulted in extreme flooding in the far north of the country.

Shelterbox were already prepared for yet another disaster in the country:

We already have 448 boxes in Haiti. The real challenge will be ensuring we don’t negatively affect the ongoing, long-term recovery of the country. Two and a half years after the earthquake, tents should be a last resort for families as the government and humanitarian community are reluctant to see ‘tent cities’ spring up again.

Hurricane Sandy and the recent flooding have also resulted in a new cholera outbreak and food insecurity, with an estimated 1.5 million people affected by food shortages after the disasters destroyed crops.

The situation is horrendous. In a country where the population has been through so much, there is an overwhelming desire to make the best of a bad situation but it’s hard when there’s one crisis after another. We’re surrounded by extreme poverty.

Here's how the situation looks in Haiti as we speak:

Image courtesy of Shelterbox. Photo by Josh Mohr. Click to find out WHY?

Moving on to events in another nation not normally associated with "extreme poverty", Shelterbox go on to point out that:

ShelterBox has also been distributing blankets to Sandy survivors in New York and New Jersey in the USA in support of rescue and recovery efforts following the disaster

According to Wikipedia, Hurricane Sandy killed a total of of 60 people with 15 still missing. Deaths caused by cholera rather than by Sandy more directly are itemised elsewhere. In the United States there have been 131 fatalities, and an estimated $50 billion worth of damage as the result of Super Storm Sandy. Wikipedia doesn't specify what value should be placed on each lost life.  There have been 7691 so far in the cholera epidemic in Haiti.

Finally please note that today is World Toilet Day:

Did you know that 2.5 billion people do not have a clean toilet

A fair few of those people are currently living in Haiti, and will die from cholera as a result.

I've received a letter from Teignbridge District Council informing me that:

The [Fulford Solar Park] application will be considered by our Planning Committee on Monday 26 November 2012 in the Council Chamber, Forde House, Newton Abbot starting at 9:45 am.

You must let us know by 12 noon on Thursday 22 November 2012 2012 if you wish to speak.

I enjoyed the experience so much last time around that naturally I have informed them that I do indeed wish to speak.  The only problem is that one of the topics that I have already informed them that I might well want to speak about isn't on the published agenda, even though my comment to that effect is on the public record available via the Teignbridge DC web site.

To summarise the matter, the planning officers recommendation to the planning committee in paragraph 3.44 of his report is that:

The issues are the same as previously considered. Given that officers previously supported a larger scheme of development there is no other recommendation that could be made other than to support the proposal, notwithstanding the decision of the Planning Committee.

I beg to differ. I suggested to the committee last time around (albeit at the last minute) that the claimed benefits of the proposal in:

Reducing reliance on fossil fuels to generate power, the reduction in greenhouse gases and combating climate change.

aren't in practice going to stack up in quite the way the applicant suggests. It now looks as though I'll have to shout even louder to get this crucial issue back on to the agenda. As a starter for 10, according to the rather terse minutes of the committee meeting of July 9th:

Objector, Mr Hunt – Referred to the technological issues in relation to solar panels, sustainability and the storage and distribution of electricity.

Supporter, Mr Homewood – This project would…. result in a saving of 4,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Some 200 sites have been inspected in relation to renewable energy and the current site is one of the best in the south west for efficiency of renewable energy output because of its south facing direction and proximity to the national grid. It would produce energy for 2000 homes.

This time around, as I stated in my most recent missive to the Teignbridge District Council, and of which there is no sign on the current agenda:

I suggest that it would be a useful exercise for all concerned if the applicant were to provide a detailed explanation of how any electricity generated by the proposed solar PV "farm" would in fact provide electricity to the householders of Tedburn St. Mary were it to be constructed, with particular emphasis on the modus operandi of any electricity substations involved.

A supplementary exercise would involve a detailed explanation of how those same houses might be supplied with electricity on a cold, dark winter's night, whether the Fulford Solar Park is eventually constructed or not.

It looks like being another very interesting meeting next Monday. Last time around I overran my allotted 5 minute time slot. It seems I will need to be rather more pithy on this occasion.

Much earlier today I dropped Kasia off at Bristol Airport, en route to Warsaw. As I was walking back to the car park, it suddenly struck me that I'd had a request for advice concerning the planning application for a large scale solar PV park near Bristol Airport.  Since it was a beautifully crisp clear morning, and I had my smartphone on me, I thought I'd take a short detour on my way back to Devon, and take a few pictures of the site in question.  I fired up my very own map of the area on my phone, and zoomed in. That revealed a public footpath across the site, so I wandered off along that in the direction of Garleys Wood, snapping as I went.

When I got back I gingerly knocked on a couple of doors. It was rather earlier on a Sunday morning!  As luck would have it I soon found myself talking to Kelvin Ogborne, the self same man who had asked me for my online advice a few weeks earlier!  His dog was in need of a brisk walk so we set off all together, taking a rather longer route along the very same footpath.

Here are some of the images I found in my phone by the time I got home to my trusty laptop:

Does that look like a good location for tens of thousands of solar panels to you?  If I were to point out that it's inside the so-called "green belt" around Bristol, would that change your mind?

After an expensive and thoroughly negative campaign that failed to mention climate change at all, Barack Obama has been voted another four year term in charge of a nation that pumps a lot of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.  According to the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL for short):

Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) increased by 3% in 2011, reaching an all-time high of 34 billion tonnes in 2011. With a decrease in 2008 and a 5% surge in 2010, the past decade saw an average annual increase of 2.7%. The top 5 emitters are China (29%), the United States (16%), the European Union (EU27) (11%), India (6%) and the Russian Federation (5%), followed by Japan (4%). These figures exclude emissions from biomass burning, such as forest fires, as the occurrence of which is uncertain.

On a per capita basis, rather than per country, the PBL further state that:

In 2011, China’s average per capita carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions increased by 9% to 7.2 tonnes CO₂. This is similar to the per capita emissions in the European Union of 7.5 tonnes in 2011. In comparison, in 2011, the United States was still one of the largest emitters of CO₂, with 17.3 tonnes in per capita emissions, after a steep decline mainly caused by the recession in 2008-2009, high oil prices compared to low fuel taxes and an increased share of natural gas.

Here's PBL's picture summarising that rather depressing set of statistics:

PBL/EC summary of global carbon dioxide emissions for 1990 to 2011

More on Barack Obama Believes Climate Change is Real

It has just come to my attention that a couple of weeks ago Westmill Solar Park near Watchfield in Wiltshire was finally acquired by a local co-operative. According to their press release:

The board of Westmill Solar Co-operative are delighted to announce that they have today completed the acquisition of Westmill Solar Park, following one of the most successful share offers of its kind and the signing of a multi-million pound loan agreement.

The £16.5 million project is now the UK’s first, and the world’s largest, co-operatively owned solar farm, located outside Shrivenham on the Oxfordshire/Wiltshire border.

The project represents a step change in the community energy sector in the UK, and offers a vision of how future locally owned, widely distributed low carbon energy generation can provide an alternative to our present unsustainable and damaging model of electricity generation.

On the technical side of things, the Westmill Co-op go on to say that:

The 5MWp solar farm generated 4,900 MWh in the last year, equivalent to the domestic electricity requirements of a town of 1,500 houses, saving over 2,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

whilst on financial matters they say that:
More on Westmill Solar Farm Acquired By Local Cooperative

Chinese solar photovoltaic module manufacturer China Sunergy announced last week that it had:

Completed the transactions to procure its first two solar park projects in the United Kingdom (UK). The two solar parks with a size of about 5 MW each are located in the southwest of Cornwall region. China Sunergy will arrange the construction of the projects, and then own and operate these two solar parks itself.

China Sunergy were rather coy about which two solar farms they had purchased, but according to the BBC the sites involved are Higher Tregarne near Falmouth and Causilgey Farm near Truro. German solar PV developer AEE Renewables originally obtained planning permission from Cornwall County Council to build the two 5 MW sites.

More on China Sunergy Acquires Two Cornish Solar Parks

Teignbridge District Council have now made their decision on Solar Power Generation's request for a screening opinion concerning a proposed 14 MW solar farm on land at the Ashcombe Estate in the Haldon Hills.  Unlike other recent requests for such opinions, in this case Teignbridge have decided that an Environmental Impact Assessment WILL be required.  They state their reasons for that decision as follows:

The development falls within Schedule 2 of the EIA regulations and is likely to have significant effects on a ‘sensitive area’ (please refer to the attached EIA analysis proforma for more details), namely Great Haldon and Little Haldon Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Chudleigh Caves and Woods Special Area of Conservation (which is a component of the wider South Hams Special Area of Conservation)

It is likely to have significant effects on, but may not be limited to, important bird species associated with the Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Greater Horseshoe Bats associated with the Special Area of Conservation.

Those areas of concern were raised by The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, whose views on solar farms in general can be viewed on their web site, where they say that:

On roofs and 'brown field' sites solar panels are a wildlife-friendly way to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and we fully support their use.

Large-scale solar 'farms' are a potential concern in sensitive locations, as they could cause reduce the suitability of habitats for key species. However, with careful planning and project development such impacts can be avoided. There may also be good opportunities to manage the site to improve conditions for wildlife.

Note that on the section of their web site devoted to UK energy policy, the RSPB also say that:

In 2008, the UK passed its Climate Change Act and became the first country in the world with a legal duty to meet an annual carbon budget.

These landmark laws were achieved largely thanks to the tireless campaigning efforts of Stop Climate Chaos – a coalition of more than 100 organisation including the RSPB, Women's Institute, WWF, UNISON, Friends of the Earth, Oxfam and Christian Aid.

We're campaigning for strong, UK-wide action to stop energy waste and use energy more efficiently, and we're calling for a revolution in the way the UK generates its power.